Botanical garden of the Krakow
university adjoins the 18th-century palace
that served as its first astronomic observatory.

Krakow's Botanical Garden, the green oasis in the downtown.

Its location at 27 Kopernika street, a ten minutes’ easy walk from
the very city center, is a best-kept secret of Krakow's
traffic-weary residents. Polish oldest Botanical Garden, established
in 1779 as one of Europe's first scientific institutions of this
kind, is a colorful island of superfluous nature amid the busy
city.

Spring to autumn the public can see here some 5,000 plant species,
both exotic and native, in the open air as well as greenhouses (the
first great palm house dates back to 1882). Yet only the
300-year-old Jagiellonian Oak proves a sole relic of vast primeval
forests covering once the whole region. The adjacent Garden of
Healing Plants shows various herbs.

The Botanical Garden adjoins a Renaissance palace rebuilt in 1792 to
serve as the Krakow university's Astronomic Observatory. It acquired
its present form after refurbishment in 1859.